Falling Roses
by miss.salvatore1995
Summary: Vampire Academy in Dimitri's Point of View. Follow him through all of the trouble he faces when he meets Rose Hathaway.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.**

**DPOV**

_Where were they?_ I asked myself. We had spent two years searching for two teenage girls. Princess Vasilisa Dragomir and her friend Rosemarie Hathaway. Who would have ever thought that they would be so hard to find.

I sat in my room with my head in my hands, trying to think of places that they would go, but coming up blank.

A knock sounded at my door and I walked over to answer it. Alberta stood in front of me, looking absolutely gleeful. My hopes soared. Maybe we were finally going to get some good news.

"We found them," she confirmed before I could ask.

I smiled at her. "Where are they? When do we leave?" I asked, anxious to catch them and return to the Academy.

"Five minutes. They are living in Portland right now and luckily that is only an hour away from us."

"I'll be right there," I said. I shut the door and grabbed as many weapons as I could. You never knew what would happen and I always liked to be prepared.

We all piled into the car and set off toward Portland. All of us discussed strategy and exchanged ideas about how we should do this. They would certainly try to run, and we wanted to prevent them from escaping us at all costs.

We saw the house that they were living in, and parked the car far down the road so that they wouldn't see, and then we split up, trying to make escape for them impossible.

I kept watch across the street from the house with another guardian. It looked like they were sleeping, but a few minutes later I heard screaming coming from the room that they were in. I took a small step forward, ready to act if there was any danger.

"Liss," a voice said. "Liss, wake up."

The screaming finally stopped, but only to be replaced by soft whimpers. "Andre, oh God," I heard the Princess groan.

Andre was her brother. She must have been having a nightmare of the night that her parents and brother died.

I heard Rosemarie comforting Vasilisa while she cried about the dream that she had had. A light turned on and I took another step forward so that I could see what they were doing. I saw them sitting on the bed and Rosemarie had her arm around the princess, trying to soothe her.

"When did we last do a feeding?" Rosemarie asked Vasilisa, studying her face. My eyes widened as I realized that she had been giving her blood ever since they left. I had never heard of anything like that before.

I watched with interest and disgust as she flipped her hair back, exposing her neck. Vasilisa gazed at is hungrily for a second before moving closer and bringing her lips down to her neck, drinking her blood. It only lasted a minute and Rosemarie swayed dizzily as the Princess finished.

"You okay?" She asked Rosemarie.

"I... yeah," she replied. "I just need to sleep it off. I'm fine."

Vasilisa studied her for awhile and then announced that she was going to go and get her some food.

I heard Vasilisa walk down the stairs and into the kitchen. A few minutes later I watched as Rosemarie forced herself to sit up and come to the window.

She leaned against the windowsill and looked anxiously up and down the street until her eyes landed on me. Her eyes widened and I knew she understood what we were here for. I stepped back into the shadows, out of sight. It was show time. My partner followed me and we walked down the street a little bit, waiting for them to make their move. A few minutes later the door burst open and they came running out. Rosemarie kept stumbling, due to the bite she had just been given, and Vasilisa tried to hold her up.

I ran out of the trees and followed them as quietly as I could from across the street, but they didn't seem to hear me. They were too distracted by the other guardians who were running behind them. They froze for only a second and then took off running once again.

I picked up the pace and started sprinting until I was ahead of them. They were only ten feet away from the car that they were running to when I stepped into their path, blocking their way. Rosemarie pulled Vasilisa back, shielding her from me. She glanced around as the other guardians approached us, closing them in. She pulled Vasilisa closer to her and glared at me.

"Leave her alone. Don't touch her," Rosemarie said menacingly, trying her best to hide her fear.

I held out my hands in what I thought was a calming gesture and then took a cautious step forward. That must have been too close for her because she leaped at me.

I responded instantly, ready for everything she was about to do. Quickly, I brought my arm out and knocked her away from me easily. She had obviously not practiced since she left. She was about to fall, so I reached my arm out again, but this time to keep her upright.

She stood right in front of me and I noticed that her neck was bleeding from where the princess had bitten her. She didn't seem to understand why I was staring at her neck, but then comprehension flickered across her face and she touched the blood that was coming from her wound. She blushed in embarrassment and shook her hair so that it covered the bite mark. It was then that I noticed that she had beautiful hair. It was long and thick and looked black in the darkness.

I snapped out of my daze when she ripped her arm out of my grasp and backed toward Vasilisa again, tensing as if she was going to try to attack me again. This girl must be suicidal if she wanted to try that again.

"Rose, don't," Vasilisa murmured softly. So, she preferred to be called Rose. That name seemed to fit her perfectly. In Russian her name was Roza.

Rose eventually gave in to Vasilisa and gave up. I stepped forward carefully, not entirely sure that she had given up.

I bowed politely to Vasilisa and said, "My name is Dimitri Belikov. I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's Academy, Princess."

They didn't say one word, but it was obvious that they were not at all happy about their situation. I wondered why they were so opposed to the Academy, but then I realized that it didn't matter. They were going back whether they liked it or not.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy!**

We managed to get them safely to the airport and into the Academy's private jet without any trouble. I was actually surprised that Rose had not tried to attack us again.

I watched the two girls and it seemed that Rose was trying to comfort Vasilisa. They had a very strange relationship. Rose always seemed to know when the princess was in trouble or when she was feeling sad or depressed. It suddenly hit me, they had a bond! All of the old stories stated that the people with bonds always had this connection and that the dhampir could sense when their Moroi was in danger. If I was right, then that would mean that we had just stumbled across something that had not happened in centuries. I looked over at the two girls and saw that they were whispering quietly to each other.

"Don't let them talk to each other," I said to one of the other guardians. "Five minutes together, and they'll come up with an escape plan."

The guardian nodded and escorted Rose to the back of the plane. When she passed me she shot me the most deadly look. If only her fighting techniques were as dangerous as her looks, we would have a terrifying Strigoi killer on our hands.

I went to sit next to Vasilisa and she moved a few inches away from me in fear. She looked so scared and I had no idea why. It's not like we were Strigoi or anything, we were guardians, the good guys. Our job was to protect people like her. But she didn't seem to realize that because she sat in her seat in fear, holding onto a water bottle for dear life.

I bent over to pick up my own water bottle and I heard her gasp. I sat up and saw her staring, wide eyed, at my neck. She must have seen my molnija marks. Molnija marks were tattoos that guardians received on the back of their neck, representing how many Strigoi we had killed. Above those was the promise mark. I received it when I had graduated, and it showed that I would always fight Strigoi and do everything I could to protect Moroi.

Each of my marks had a story along with them, but I never liked to share them, because each one ended in death, even though it was a horrible monster that was being murdered, it was still death.

I gave up trying to talk to Vasilisa, she was too scared to even look at me. I got up and traded places with the guardian who was sitting next to Rose.

She glanced up, but when she saw that it was me she turned her head away from me. As she turned her head, her long hair brushed against my shoulder and I couldn't help but notice that it was the most beautiful hair that I had ever seen. It was soft and silky and I had to resist the urge to run my hands through it.

I shook my head, trying to clear my scattered thoughts. I couldn't be thinking this, she was at least six or seven years younger than me.

I tried to distract myself with an attempt at talking to her. "Were you really going to attack all of us?" I was honestly curious about her answer. She seemed like she wanted nothing more than to tear us all a part, but she had to have known that she couldn't possibly win

I waited anxiously for her reply, but she ignored me and continued to stare out the window. I continued on, wanting to get some sort of response out of her. "Doing that... protecting her like that- it was very brave." I paused. It was amazing that she would even attempt to attack us. She had been outnumbered and had never finished her education. "_Stupid, _but still brave. Why did you even try it?"

Rose brushed that gorgeous hair away from her face and finally looked at me. "Because I'm her guardian."

I stared at her and she once again turned away from me. I had heard that the Dragomirs had requested that Rose be Vasilisa's guardian before they had died. But she couldn't honestly believe that she was capable of protecting her. She hadn't even graduated yet. She must think that being a guardian is easy, and doesn't require a lot of hard work. If she believed that, she would never be able to protect the princess and would have absolutely no chance of guarding her when they both graduated.

I didn't have anything more to say to Rose so I got up and returned to my seat next to Vasilisa.

Once we landed, we were transported into Academy cars and driven up to the Academy itself. We stopped at the gate for a short second and then continued up to the school. I watched Rose as we got closer, and she gazed up at the school with a disgusted expression. She looked like she would rather be anywhere else but here and that if she could, she would make a run for it.

When we reached the school, we exited the car and I assigned a guardian to watch Rose. He walked close by her as we made our way up to the Headmistress.

"Hey Comrade," Rose said, suddenly appearing right next to me.

"You want to talk now?" I asked, refusing to look at her.

"Are you taking us to Kirova?" She asked, completely ignoring my question.

This girl really needed to learn some respect. "_Headmistress _Kirova," I corrected her.

"Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit-"

She broke off and I finally allowed myself to sneak a peek at Rose. She noticed where we were taking them and she had a slightly worried expression on her face. I smiled slightly. Maybe this would teach her the manners that she so desperately needed. We were taking them right through the Commons, where all of the other students were having breakfast. She must not want to see her old classmates.

I expected her to keep her head down and avoid eye contact with anyone, but Rose surprised me by holding her head high in the air and grinning at everyone that we passed by. She looked around at everyone, as if seeing if anything had changed while she had been absent.

She kept up her cool, confident expression until we left the commons. It seemed that her reputation was important to her. When we reached the Headmistress's office Rose looked bored and impatient, rather than scared as I had expected. I was beginning to realize that Rose was not the kind of person that you could get used to. She was spontaneous and completely unpredictable.

Kirova thanked all of us for our hard work and for bringing them back safely. The other guardians left after Rose and Vasilisa had been seated, but Alberta and I stayed just in case they tried to do anything.

I glanced around the room and saw Prince Victor Dashkov sitting in the corner. He looked worse from when I had seen him last. He was paler than he should be, and he looked so fragile. It always pained me to see him. He was supposed to be the king, but when he was diagnosed with his disease Tatiana became the ruler. It really was a shame, Victor could have done many great things.

The two girls didn't seem to notice him and Kirova opened her mouth to start the tirade that would surely come when a voice interrupted her.

"Vasilisa," Victor murmured softly, making his presence know to the two girls.

Despite how frail he looked, Prince Victor managed to stand up and Vasilisa ran over and threw her arms around him. "Uncle," she whispered.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe, Vasilisa. And you too Rose," Victor said, still hugging her.

Rose simply nodded at him and quickly looked away. Kirova was still fuming behind her desk, but stayed quiet and allowed them to have their reunion. I could tell that she wasn't happy about it, but she had no other choice.

After a few minutes she took her back to her seat and began her lecture. I had heard a lot of them during my time here, but this had to be the best. She covered all of her usual topics and I glanced over at Rose to see that she was gazing out the window absentmindedly, not even bothering to pay attention to one word that she said.

Rose started listening a little more when the lecture was directed at her. She told her how she broke the promise that a guardian had to make to protect Moroi and that she had been unable to do her duty.

That was when Rose got angry. "I _did _do my duty!" She shouted angrily, jumping out of her chair. I watched her closely, anticipating anything that she might be planning. "I did keep her safe. I kept her safe when none of _you _could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to."

Vasilisa looked intently at Rose and she seemed to calm down a little bit. It only confirmed what I had suspected about a bond between them.

"Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?" Kirova asked, speaking calmly to Rose.

I hated to admit it, but I had to agree with Kirova. If Rose wanted to protect Vasilisa then she should have left her here. It made no sense to me how taking her out into the real world would keep her out of harm's way. What was Rose even protecting her from?

Rose kept quiet so Headmistress Kirova continued, "I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left- aside from the novelty of it, no doubt-was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance," she said, while I wondered what kind of stunt she could have pulled.

"No, that's not-," Rose tried to protest, but Kirova cut her off.

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible."

I stared at her in shock, unable to form my jumbled thoughts into words. I knew that Rose acted irresponsibly by taking the princess away, but I didn't think that she deserved to get kicked out.

"I...what?" Rose asked, completely at a loss for words.

"You can't do that! She's my guardian," Vasilisa protested, standing up. I again wondered how Rose could be her guardian. Novices didn't get the Moroi that they would be guarding until graduation.

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents-"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave," Kirova explained, and I suddenly understood why Rose always said that she was Vasilisa's guardian. The Dragomirs had requested her and intended to make sure that it happened before they died.

Rose regained her composure and she now looked furious."Where are you going to send me? To my mom in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me off to my _father_?" Rose spat out angrily and then continued, "Or maybe you're going to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day."

I flinched at the venom in Rose's voice, and I knew that she meant what she said.

"Miss Hathaway, you are out of line."

I knew that Rose would make a comeback that would get her kicked out of this school right now, so I interrupted before she could say something that she would regret. I don't know why I did it, but I didn't want Rose to leave.

"They have a bond," I said quietly, and all eyes snapped toward me. I looked directly at Rose and continued. "Rose know what Vasilisa is feeling. Don't you?"

Both girls looked at me in astonishment. Kirova looked perplexed, but quickly regained herself. "No...that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries."

"It's obvious. I suspected it as soon as I started watching them."

"That is a gift," Victor murmured quietly, considering all of the possibilities. "A rare and wonderful thing."

It seemed that Prince Victor was now convinced that Rose should stay, now I just had to convince Headmistress Kirova. "The best guardians always had that bond. In the stories," I added, hoping that she would see the potential.

Apparently she didn't because she glared at me. "Stories that are centuries old. Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?"

I shrugged. I hadn't heard much of what Rose had done during her time here, but it couldn't be that bad. Kirova must be overreacting. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential-"

Rose shot up out of her seat, interrupting me. "Wild and disrespectful? Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"

"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," Kirova explained frostily. "Her _sanctioned _guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labor to protect Lissa?" Rose demanded.

I flinched at her comment, but otherwise ignored it. It was mean of her to say that, especially after I had tried to help her.

Kirova lost it and threw her hands up in the air. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and _very _raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."

I had absolutely no idea why, but I started to defend Rose. I wanted her to stay here and learn how to fight. I was confused as to why I was doing this after she had insulted me, but I still continued to argue with Kirova.

"So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again."

"Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers."

"No, I won't," Rose piped in, but I chose to ignore her. It was better if she was left out of this conversation.

"Then give her extra training sessions," I suggested. Rose seemed willing to protect Vasilisa. If she had the skill to support her courage, she would be an amazing guardian.

"Who's going to put in the extra time?" Kirova finally asked. "You?"

Whoa, that was not what I was getting at. "Well, that's not what I-"

"Yes. That's what I thought," Kirova said, triumph written all over her face.

I hated seeing that satisfaction on her face, so I turned and looked at the two girls. They stared up at me and I knew that my decision would affect what would happen in the future. If Rose was sent away, Vasilisa would escape again with Rose, but if Rose stayed, so would Vasilisa.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Prince Victor give me a slight nod. He had thought the same thing that I had, and he didn't want the princess to go anywhere.

I glanced briefly at Rose and stared right into her dark eyes. It couldn't possibly be that bad. Surely this girl wasn't as terrible as Kirova had made her out to be.

I turned back to Kirova. "Yes. I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what?" She demanded furiously. "She goes unpunished?"

"Find some other way to punish her," I suggested. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl, in particular."

That was certainly true. Our numbers were definitely going down and we couldn't afford to lose someone who was willing to learn, but a part of me just didn't want to see her go.

Prince Victor spoke and all eyes turned toward him. "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Rose away would be a shame, a waste of talent."

Maybe I was wrong before and he only wanted Rose to stay because of her potential and because of the bond. Kirova glared briefly and then turned to look out the window and into the darkness. I could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

She turned back to us and Vasilisa gently said, "Please, Ms. Kirova. Let Rose stay."

Kirova sighed. "If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be. Your continued enrollment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line _once, _and you're gone. You will attend all required trainings for novices your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have-before _and _after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent...away."

Rose didn't look too happy with all of those rules. "Banned from all social activities?" She asked coldly. "Are you trying to keep us apart? Afraid we'll run away again?"

Kirova glowered at Rose. "I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall. You were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for. You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

I gazed intently at Rose, desperately trying to get her to swallow her pride and take it. She stared back at me for a few seconds and then said, "Fine. I accept."

She didn't seem happy about coming back to school or having to follow all of the rules that Kirova had given. Rose seemed to have a bad attitude and a short temper. I recalled Kirova saying that Rose had destroyed school property, and I vaguely remembered Guardian Alto complaining about her and all of the stunts that she had pulled in his class. Guardian Alto was one of the toughest trainers here, and if he couldn't control Rose I had no idea what I was going to do. _What had I gotten myself into?_

**Author's Note:**

**I really hoped you liked it. Please tell me what you think and REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Vampire Academy!**

Alberta and I silently escorted Rose to see the counselor so that she could receive her schedule, and then we went with her to her first class. She seemed lost in thought as we walked through the hallways. Neither one of us spoke to her and she seemed to like it that way. She was probably still mad at us for capturing her and Vasilisa.

Once we entered the gym, where the combat class was being held, all eyes turned toward Rose. They looked completely shocked at the sight before them and they seemed to have trouble realizing that she was really there with them.

Rose scoured the crowd for a familiar face, and grinning as her eyes landed on a boy named Mason Ashford. Mason stared at Rose in awe, just like the rest of the class. He was a good friend of Rose's and we had even questioned him to see if he knew anything about the two girl's location when they had first gone missing.

"Hey Mason, wipe that drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time," Rose said.

Oh great, I was mentoring a slut. I looked over at Rose, completely shocked that she would say something like that. Didn't she have any self respect?

Mason snapped out of his trance and grinned back at Rose. "This _is _my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."

"Oh yeah?" Rose asked. "Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then."

I couldn't believe that they were actually having this conversation. I hoped that she wouldn't make these inappropriate comments during our training sessions. If she did, I just might have to punish her by making her run more and more laps.

"It's _always _a good time to think about you naked," piped in another student.

The class started laughing and I shook my head, contemplating how I would handle her during practice. I walked toward the back of the room, muttering in Russian, and I was glad that nobody here could understand what I was saying.

All the students started questioning Rose about where they had been and why they had left. I was hoping that she would tell them, because I was honestly curious of why they had left, but all she did was taunt them.

Their happy little reunion was broken up when the guardian in charge yelled at Mason for not staying focused and for neglecting his duty.

Mason ignored his scolding, and kept on grinning and then finally told the other's what they would be doing today.

I looked over at Rose and she seemed confused. I realized that all of these exercises had started up when she was gone and that she wouldn't know any of them. Smiling to myself, I waited anxiously for her to start. She thought that she could take the guardians down, but now it was time for her to find out that she was really far behind and can't even take on fellow novices.

Rose paired up with Mason, which was probably a bad idea because Mason was the best in the class and she had absolutely no chance of beating him.

I watched the pair and smirked as Rose got pinned down time after time. She was going to be sore tomorrow.

By the end of the class, Rose was limping, and she hadn't even started training with me yet. If she thought that this was bad, she was not going to be happy about what I was going to make her do. I knew that she wanted to immediately start with fighting and combat, but she was going to be mad when she was running laps instead. I smiled to myself and walked off to guard Stan Alto's second period, which covered the essentials of being a guardian.

When I walked into the class I saw that Rose was sitting down at a desk. I remembered hearing that Rose had caused a lot of trouble in Stan's class before she had left, and I hoped that she would be on good behavior today.

Stan entered the classroom, his expression hardening as he saw Rose sitting there. He had enjoyed her time away and was not thrilled to see the disruptive Rose Hathaway back in his class. Stan went over and stood by Rose's desk. He should have just left her alone, I thought to myself. He complained about all of the problems that she had caused, but he was probably causing more of them by going up to her.

"What's this? No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. Rose Hathaway. What a privilege! How very _generous_ of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us," Stan said, sneering angrily at Rose.

Rose seemed to hate him just as much as he hated her. Her face looked like she had many colorful things to say to him, but refrained from that because Kirova's warning's were still fresh in her mind.

Stan gestured for Rose to stand up. "Well, come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class."

Stan grinned maliciously at Rose and I knew that he was only doing this to embarrass Rose. He knew that she didn't know what he was teaching, but he saw an opportunity to humiliate her and took it. Rose had always caused problems in his class and this must be what he was doing for revenge.

"You don't really mean-"

"I mean _exactly _what I say, Hathaway. Go in front of the class," Stan said, the taunting edge to his voice disappearing.

I had to give Rose credit, she didn't cower away and hide like some of the other students might have done. She strode up to the front of the room, flipped her hair over her shoulder and stared boldly back at the class. She just seemed to notice me and the other guardians, and her expression darkened as she realized that she would have a bigger audience to view her humiliation.

Stan smiled and went up to stand next to her. "So, Hathaway. Enlighten us about your protective techniques."

"My...techniques?" Rose asked, confused.

Stan looked absolutely delighted about this situation. "Of course. Because presumably you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took and underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats."

Rose didn't look happy about where this conversation was going, and I couldn't blame her. Rose had already been yelled at and punished by Kirova, Stan didn't need to humiliate her in front of the whole class.

"We never ran into any Strigoi," Rose replied.

"Obviously," Stan chortled. "I already figured that out, seeing as how you're still alive."

Rose didn't say anything, and it looked like she was finally getting the message of how much danger she had put the princess in. She couldn't even fight her classmates, a Strigoi would snap her neck in a matter of seconds.

"So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night," Stan asked, still enjoying his ridiculous idea of revenge.

"Sometimes," Rose said. That was a mistake, and she should have realized that.

"_Sometimes," _Stan repeated, imitating a high-pitched voice and Rose grimaced. "Well then, I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night."

"Er...no."

"No? But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know that because _you weren't here," _Stan said, his voice steadily growing louder.

"I watched the area whenever we went out," Rose said indignantly.

"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?" Stan asked and I couldn't help but feel the same resentment that Rose had for him. He knew that she had no clue what he was talking about, but he continued to embarrass her in front of everyone.

Rose didn't say anything so Stan continued. "Ah. I'm guessing you used the Hathaway Glance-Around-When-You-Remember-To Method."

"No!" Rose yelled out angrily. "That's not true. I watched her. She's still alive, isn't she?"

Stan walked up and leaned close to her. Rose flinched and Stan said, "Because you got _lucky."_

Rose got angrier and started shouting. "Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there. It's not like what we've been taught. It's safer than you guys make it sound."

What? It was definitely not safe out there. Stan was right. She did get lucky. Strigoi could be anywhere and she underestimated what they could do.

"Safer? _Safer? _We are at war with the Strigoi!" Stan yelled, his voice louder than Rose's had been. "One of them could come right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him-and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, _nothing, _compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"

I had to agree with Stan on this. Strigoi were merciless and would stop at nothing to kill people and get what they wanted most. Blood. Every time they drank Moroi blood they grew stronger and stronger. We were losing guardians and Moroi to them. They were not easy to kill. They were fast and strong and it took a lot of strength and skill to kill them.

There were three different ways to do it. The most common was a silver stake through the heart, decapitation, or to set them on fire. None of these were easy, and it took years and years of training until dhampirs were finally ready. Rose would certainly die in a fight with them and that was what Stan was trying to tell her.

Rose looked away from Stan and stared at the back of the room where I was standing with the other guardians. She looked terrible and I instantly felt bad for her. Stan had gotten what he had wanted, he should have just let her sit down.

"Moroi blood," Rose whispered so that I could just barely hear it.

"What was that?" Stan asked obnoxiously. "I didn't catch that."

Rose spun back around to face him. "Moroi blood! Moroi blood make them stronger."

Well, at least she knew something about the Strigoi.

Stan nodded and stepped away from her. "Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality, and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality. Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And _that _is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough-even with guardians-to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear..."

"...so do the dhampirs," Rose said, finishing his sentence.

"Well," Stan said. "It looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester."

Ok, that was mean. She may have skipped two years of her education, but she wasn't stupid. She knew the basics and I would make sure that she got caught up in fighting during our extra training sessions. I would start her off with running and conditioning, so that she could get back in shape, and then we could start with the fun stuff.

Rose spent the rest of the time in her seat, lost in thought. I knew that she was thinking about what Stan had said. I could tell that she wanted to learn and that she wanted to pass the class and catch up with everyone else. I remembered how she had been willing to fight for Vasilisa even though she was outnumbered this morning, and I once again thought about how good she would be if she only focused and pushed herself enough to get back out there again. And I swore to myself that I would do everything I could to teach her everything that she need to know. Even though she had an attitude problem, I would keep control over myself and stay patient with her. I just hoped that she wouldn't cause too many problems.

After I finished guarding my next two classes I headed over toward the Common's and started walking next to Rose. She still looked angry about what had happened in Stan's class and I was unsure if I should say anything.

I was still debating on whether or not I should talk to her when she said, "I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?"

"Yes," I said.

"And you don't think that was unfair?" She asked, annoyed.

I had thought some of it was unfair, but I also thought that she deserved to be reprimanded a little bit. I decided that it would be best if I didn't tell her that so I ignored her question. "Was he right? Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?"

She looked down at the floor and mumbled, "I kept her alive."

"How did you do fighting against your classmates today?" I shot back, remembering how fast they pinned her to the mat.

Rose didn't say anything, and I instantly felt bad about what I had said. Being behind everyone was not something she liked, and I felt bad about bringing it up, but I had to make her understand.

"If you can't fight _them_-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she snapped back angrily.

I slowed down so that I could walk next to her. She was limping slowly after getting beaten up during practice. "You're strong and fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports while you were gone?" I asked.

"Sure. Now and then."

"You didn't join any teams?"

"Too much work. If I'd wanted to practice that much, I'd have stayed here."

I looked at her. I thought that she would have been willing to work hard to protect the princess, but if she didn't want to do any work she would be useless and would make a terrible guardian. "You'll never be able to really protect the princess if you don't hone your skills. You'll always be lacking."

"I'll be able to protect her," she said, her voice rising.

It was time to knock some sense into her. "You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know- for your field experience _or _after you graduate. No one wants to waste the bond, but no one's going to give her an inadequate guardian either. If you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you both graduate-if you can prove you're worthy. I hope you will," I said, needing to tell her how it is.

"Lissa, call her Lissa," she said.

Was that all she had gotten from that? That I didn't call the princess by her nickname? This was going to be much harder than I thought.

So far all she had shown me was that she had a short temper, no desire to do any physical activity, no training whatsoever, and that she had problems listening to people.

I stuck by the promise that I had made to myself. I would train her until she had caught up to her classmates and had learned everything that she needed to know. I just hoped that she wouldn't make it too hard for me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Vampire Academy**

Once I finished talking to Rose, I walked to the staffroom to get something to eat, and found Stan Alto complaining about something to a group of guardians. I didn't know what they were saying, but Stan looked angry.

"I can't believe that Kirova actually let her stay," Stan was saying. "Kirova knows how much trouble she has caused in the past. I'm sure she didn't miraculously change during her little 'vacation.' Everything was so much better while she was away. There weren't as many incidents, but I'm sure they'll start up once again now that she's back."

I immediately picked up on what they were talking about. Stan was mad that Kirova had allowed Rose to stay at the Academy. He hated her and was sure that she would be sent away, but was now furious about learning that that wasn't the case.

A lot of the guardians agreed with Stan, but there were quite a few that didn't seem to share his opinion. Stan wouldn't give up though. He kept arguing his point, trying to convince all the guardians that they should talk to the Headmistress about this.

"Kirova already made her decision, we have no business bothering her with it anymore," one of the guardians spoke up. I thought her name was Celeste, but I wasn't sure.

"You can't honestly want her to stay, Celeste," Stan argued. "She caused you just as much trouble as the rest of us, and you were even one of the ones who found her after that horrible stunt she pulled."

I sat there, listening, and again wondering what stunt she had pulled that made all of these people resent her. I felt like asking, but didn't want to seem stupid. Luckily, another new guardian spoke up and asked the question that had been on my mind.

Stan grinned down maliciously at the guardian who had asked. "She grabbed a bat and started destroying school property. She trashed bookshelves, mirrors, a stereo, and the windows."

I stared at him in complete shock. I knew that Rose had a short temper, but I couldn't imagine her doing anything like that. I shook my head, and tried to clear my thoughts. Stan must have had it wrong, Rose wouldn't do that.

"I already told you that I don't think that Rose did it," Celeste argued, glaring at Stan.

"She _admitted _that she did it," Stan cried out in frustration.

"Yeah, but I think that she was covering for someone, and just the way she looked when we found her, I don't know, I just really don't think that she did it."

"That's right," Alberta piped in. "The princess and some other boy were with her, but since Rose confessed, we never questioned anything."

I glanced at Alberta in surprise. They didn't even investigate this? They just immediately believed what Rose said and punished her?

Stan was getting angrier. "Why would the princess do that?" He demanded.

"I don't know," Alberta admitted. "All I know is that Rose didn't seem to be the culprit. The whole time we were yelling at her about it she kept glancing anxiously at Vasilisa, and then two days later they broke out of the Academy. Something wasn't right, and I doubt that whatever was wrong is completely fixed. This morning Rose made it clear that something was wrong with the princess, and she only took her away to protect her."

Stan snorted. "What was she protecting her from?"

"I told you, I don't know, but Rose was adamant that the only reason they left was to protect Vasilisa. You could always ask them, but I doubt that they would tell you anything."

I again started wondering about what Rose could possibly be protecting her from. I also wondered if it was really the princess who had destroyed the school property, but I was pretty sure that Rose hadn't done it. I was extremely curious about a lot of other things, but I was certain that Rose wouldn't give me any answers.

Celeste, who had been deep in thought, said, "You're right. Usually Rose would answer us with a snappy comment, but she looked frightened that night, and I'm sure it wasn't because of us. There was definitely something wrong."

Many of the guardians started discussing this new piece of information, and my curiosity peaked. Stan still didn't look convinced, but he didn't say anything.

"Are we going to force them into telling us?" One guardian asked, but Alberta shook her head.

"They can tell us when they're ready. For now we should just keep an eye on them. Belikov, watch Rose in your extra practices and if you can, try to ask her about what happened."

I nodded, but was sure that Rose wouldn't tell me anything.

Stan didn't look too happy about this decision. "I still think Kirova should send her away," Stan muttered sullenly.

Once classes ended, I walked over to the gym to meet Rose for our first practice. She wasn't there yet so I decided to read a book while I waited. It was one of my absolute favorites, and I swear that this was about my thirtieth time reading it.

After reading for awhile, I glanced at the clock and noticed that Rose was late. Sighing, I stood up and went to search for her. As I searched I wondered idly if she had simply forgotten or just didn't want to show up.

I searched for about five minutes until I finally found her talking to Vasilisa. They were having an intense discussion and I hoped that they weren't planning on escaping again. It had been a pain to find them, and I didn't want to go through that again.

"Rose?" I called out, walking up to them.

They looked up at me with slightly apprehensive expressions and I could tell that they were worried that I had heard what they were talking about.

"You're late for practice," I said and then turned to greet Vasilisa. "Princess."

Rose said a quick goodbye and then we headed off toward the gym together. Rose wasn't paying one bit of attention to me and she looked really worried about something.

I was sure that she was stressing out about what her and the princess had just been talking about. I remembered what the guardians were saying at lunch today and I wondered once again if there really was anything wrong with Vasilisa, or as Rose insisted, Lissa.

I was contemplating asking Rose if she knew anything about what the princess was going through or about what had happened that night before they left, when I noticed that Rose had stopped walking and was now staring ahead of her with a blank expression. I stopped walking and faced her. Her eyes were wide open, but I could tell that she wasn't seeing the plain hallway that we were in.

"Rose? Rose?" I asked, concerned.

No response.

I started shaking her. "Rose?" What's wrong? What's happening? _Rose?" _My voice got louder as my worry increased.

_What was happening to her?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Vampire Academy.**

I continued shaking her, growing more and more worried as each second passed. She had been like this for about five minutes now and I was about ready to carry her to the clinic and have her checked out when she slowly became aware of her surroundings.

"Rose? Rose?" I asked frantically, my hands still holding onto her.

She blinked and then looked around us before returning her gaze to me. Relief flooded through me as I saw that she was fine, but I was still worried about what had happened. I had absolutely no idea of what had been wrong with her.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I...yeah. I was... I was with Lissa..." Rose said, disoriented. She put a hand on her forehead and she looked like she had a bad headache. "I was in her head."

I stared at her in confusion. "Her... head?"

"Yeah. It's part of the bond," Rose explained, and I felt a little better that she knew what had happened, because I had been totally lost. I had never seen anything like that.

I pushed my concern for Rose away and focused on Lissa, my charge. "Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's..." Rose hesitated and I studied her while she thought. She looked unsure about the princess's safety, but I knew that if something bad had happened to her Rose would already be there, ready to protect her. "She's not in danger," Rose finally finished.

She still looked worried, but I decided not to push her. If Lissa was any real danger, Rose would tell me. "Can you keep going?" I asked, instead of asking one of the millions of questions that were in my head. I still hadn't forgotten the information that Alberta had wanted me to get, but now was not the right time.

"Yeah. I'm fine," Rose said, seeming flustered by my concern. She went into the gym's dressing room and I waited outside patiently, contemplating how I should ask her about the incident.

Rose walked back out, dragging her feet. She was still exhausted from the fighting she had done today. "You know, Comrade, I've been working hard today. Maybe you could give me the day off," she said hopefully.

I laughed at her. She didn't honestly think I would go easy on her, did she?"

"Why is that funny?" She demanded.

"Oh. You were serious." What had happened to protecting Lissa at all costs? This was just one of the many steps that she would have to take before protecting the princess.

"Of course I was!" She shouted indignantly and I found it hard not to find her a little amusing. "Look, I've technically been awake for _two _days. Why do we have to start this training now? Let me go to bed. It's just one hour."

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at her in disapproval. She was going to have to push herself, because I certainly wasn't going to give her any special treatment and go easy on her. "How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far."

"I hurt like hell," she whined, and I knew that she meant it. She hadn't done anything physical in two years and suddenly returning to battle was going to take its toll on her body.

"You'll feel worse tomorrow," I pointed out.

"So?" She asked defiantly, still annoyed that I hadn't instantly let her off as soon as she had asked.

"So, better to jump in now while you still feel... not as bad," I said, bracing myself for her response. I knew that she wouldn't like my answer.

"What kind of logic is that?" She asked.

Surprisingly she didn't say anything else. Instead she followed me into the weight room and I quietly showed her the exercises that I wanted her to do. After I finished that I went to sit down and read one of my favorite Western novels. The Old West had always fascinated me and I wished that I had been alive during that time.

Every few minutes, I would glance up from my book and make sure she was doing the exercises right. I also couldn't help but notice that she was really pretty. Gorgeous, even. The night that we found them, I had briefly noted that she had amazing features, but I hadn't had time to fully appreciate them.

Now, I had all of the time in the world. She had a nice tan, curvy body that was rare around here because all of the Moroi were super thin. She had dark eyes that made me feel warm all over when she met my own, and lastly, she had long, gorgeous hair that I wanted to run my fingers through. It was a very dark brown that sometimes looked black. She was probably the most beautiful woman that I had ever met.

I sighed, trying to rid myself of those inappropriate thoughts. I was seven years older than her and I was her _mentor. _ I couldn't be thinking this. When I had agreed to mentor her I had been worried about her attitude, now I had to worry about my self control.

Rose finished with the exercises, pulling me out of my thoughts. I walked over to her and showed her some stretches that would help her cool down.

We did that in silence for a couple of minutes until she asked me a question. "How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian? You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school?"

I didn't say anything for awhile. I was contemplating if I should tell her about myself or not. I didn't usually talk about myself a lot, but some part of me wanted Rose to know me. "No. I attended the one in Siberia."

"Whoa. That's got to be the only place worse than Montana."

I smiled. How wrong she was. Siberia was the most beautiful place in the world and I longed to go back there each and every day. "After I graduated, I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently," I explained, my voice and expression growing hard as I relieved the day where I was phoned and told that he was dead. Not only was Ivan my charge, but he was also my close personal friend. "They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus."

"Did this lord die on your watch?" Rose asked hesitantly, not wanting to upset me.

"No. He was with his other guardian. I was away."

I didn't elaborate. I had been visiting my family when he had died. I hadn't seen them in awhile and Ivan had assured me that he would be fine without me, only he hadn't been. His other guardian had been outnumbered by Strigoi and they had both ended up dying. I always blamed myself for that. If I had only stayed with him, they might both still be alive.

"Hey," Rose said. "Did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that."

I looked at her, finally distracted from my troubled thoughts. "You're complimenting me on that?" I asked curiously. She had been mad about being found before and I thought that it would be a while before she accepted the fact that we had been able to capture them.

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better that the last one they tried."

"Last one?" I asked. What was she talking about? Portland was the first lead that we had ever gotten.

"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds."

"This was the first time we found you. In Portland."

Rose sat up. "Um, I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else could have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it."

"Maybe," I said, but I was sure that the school had never sent any psi-hounds after them. I was one of the people in charge of the search and I was positive that they wouldn't keep that from me.

Once she finished her stretches, Rose went off to the novice dorms and I went to start my evening shift. My thoughts were still focused on Rose and I appreciated the distraction. Today had only been the first training session with her and I was already obsessed with her. This was not good. I kept repeating over and over in my head that she was my student, and after awhile I was even starting to believe it.

The next morning I walked to the gym and waited for Rose to come in. I hoped that I wouldn't have to drag her here like I did yesterday.

A few minutes later, Rose came limping in. "You were right," she moaned. "I feel like I've been hit by a bus."

I laughed and she glared at me. I knew it was rude to laugh at her, especially when she was in pain, but I just couldn't help it.

We did the same things as yesterday and I tried my best to ignore all of Rose's snarky comments. But by the end of practice I was relieved to see her and all of her complaining go.

A part of me was actually hoping that she would keep complaining. It was easier to ignore her beauty if she kept annoying me.

Alberta came up to me later that day and asked about our training sessions. "How are you doing with Rose?" She asked, looking at me sympathetically and I immediately got the idea that they thought that I was facing some kind of torture.

"I'm doing alright," I said."'She complains a lot, but she's not as bad as everyone says."

Alberta nodded. "That's good to hear. Did you find anything out?"

"No. Not yet. I'm waiting for the right time. She doesn't trust me enough yet to tell me anything."

"That's alright. Take as much time as you need," she said and then walked away.

Talking about Rose had brought back all of those troubling thoughts that I had had about her before.

I groaned in exasperation and tried to push them away. Training Rose was going to be much harder than I thought.

**Author's Note:  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I am so sorry that it took so long to get out. I had been on vacation and then school started last week, so I have been really busy. Please don't forget to REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Vampire Academy, it belongs to Richelle Mead.**

The next day I was surprised to see that Rose went to church. She had asked Kirova for permission and she had grudgingly agreed. My guess was that she went so that she could spend time with Lissa. Rose just didn't strike me as a very religious person.

Well, I wasn't exactly very religious either. I wasn't entirely sure that there was a God out there, and I didn't really have time to find out. But I always worried if I was going to be condemned one day for killing Strigoi. They were technically dead already, but it was still talking a life.

Sometimes I felt guilty about what I had done. I mean they had had lives and families before, and I didn't think that they deserved to die that way. Of course I had to kill them and I completely understood that. It was my duty as a guardian to protect Moroi and kill Strigoi.

I wasn't sure about the whole religion thing, but I did find peace by coming to service every week and asking for forgiveness. It always made me feel better, and sometimes I even enjoyed going.

Today, though, I wasn't too focused on the service. I kept glancing over at Rose. She wasn't paying a bit of attention. I smiled to myself. I had been right, she had only come to be with Lissa.

Rose was glancing around at random people, completely in her own little world. But suddenly her head snapped up toward the priest and she started listening to him intently. Something he had said had obviously caught her attention.

I also looked up and started listening, curious as to what had interested her. The priest had been talking about St. Vladimir's guardian, Anna, but had now changed subjects. Rose looked disappointed, and I wondered why she was so interested in Anna.

I watched her throughout the rest of the service and she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. I wanted to go over there and ask her what was wrong, but decided that I had better not. She probably wouldn't even tell me anything.

Once it was over, she said something to Lissa and then walked up to the priest. She waited impatiently for him to finish talking to some other students, and when he finally did, Rose started questioning him about something. I was pretty sure that she was asking about whatever had interested her during the service. I wanted to go up to them and find out what it was, but decided against it. I watched as the priest frowned at her, disappeared, and then reappeared a few minutes later, carrying a book. He handed it to Rose and she didn't look too happy about that. I was guessing that she had been given some homework from the priest.

That only increased my interest further. It must be something important for Rose to actually listen to the sermon and then go up to the priest and ask what he was talking about. I hadn't known Rose very long, but I had learned a lot about her in these few weeks that I had been training her. She was wild and impulsive, as I had said to Kirova, but she was also funny, kind, caring, and just an all around good person. She had her faults, just like everyone else, but she was also one of the most amazing people that I had ever met.

Rose walked out of the church and I sighed. That girl was going to be the death of me. I wished that she would have come to talk to me, but that might look suspicious. I sighed again. I would just have to wait for our training sessions. When we were alone.

I knew that I wanted to see her for all of the wrong reasons, and I tried my best to push all thoughts of Rose away, but was not having much success with that. Instead of dreading our practices, I found myself looking forward to them and being able to see and talk to her again. This was definitely not a good thing, I thought to myself. I was heading in a dangerous direction and I didn't know how to get out of it.

**Author's Note:**

**I am sorry that this chapter was so short, but I promise that the next one will be longer! Please keep reading and reviewing! I love to hear your opinions!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I am SO SO SO sorry that it took me so long to update. With school starting, I have been really busy. I am sorry that you had to wait so long, but I hope that you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Vampire Academy!**

The next few weeks passed by quickly. Rose started improving and her body was getting stronger and was now able to keep up with the intense training that I was making her do every morning and afternoon. I was thankful that working out wasn't taking such a huge toll on her body anymore, because I was getting ready to pull my hair out with all of her complaining.

As the weeks progressed, I also saw Rose's respect for me grow. She saw how the other guardians treated me and I knew that she was starting to see me that way too.

At every single practice I had with her, I treated her just like a mentor was supposed to treat their student, but on the inside my emotions were complete chaos. They ranged from wanting to give in to my feelings for Rose, to mentally slapping myself for thinking that at all. But I couldn't help it. Rose was truly an amazing person and I found myself always looking forward to our practices. The more I got to know her, the larger my list of her characteristics grew. She was beautiful, smart, dedicated, and I enjoyed every single moment that I had with her.

During our training sessions, I still had rose doing some of the same stuff. She would start out with stretching and then I had recently started sending her outside to run, something that she had not been too thrilled about.

Three weeks after their return, I was sitting down in the gym reading a Louis L'Amour book and listening to "When Doves Cry" by Prince.

"Whoa Dimitri," she said, throwing her bag down on the floor. "I realize this is actually a current hit in Eastern Europe right now, but do you think we could maybe listen to something that wasn't recorded before I was born?" Rose asked. I should have known that she would complain about this too.

I looked up at her and said, "What does it matter to you? I'm the one who's going to be listening to it. You'll be outside running."

Rose made a face and started stretching while I smiled, basking in the glory of my triumph.

"Hey," she asked, moving on to the next set of stretches that I wanted her to do, "what's with all the running anyway? I mean, I realize the importance of stamina and all that, but shouldn't I be moving on to something with a little hitting? They're still killing me in group practice."

"Maybe you should hit harder," I suggested.

"I'm serious," she exclaimed, annoyed.

"Hard to tell the difference," I remarked, putting my book down and turning my head to look at her. "My job is to get you ready to defend the princess and fight dark creatures, right?"

"Yup."

"So tell me this: suppose you manage to kidnap her again and take her off to the mall. While you're there, a Strigoi comes at you. What will you do?" I asked, hoping that this will help knock some sense into her big head.

"Depends on what store we're in," she joked.

I stared at her, not finding any humor in that. Sometimes Rose seemed like the perfect guardian; dedicated, smart, and willing to learn. but then there were times like these when nothing seemed to matter and she only wanted to joke around.

"Fine. I'll stab him with a silver stake."

I sat up, while Rose stared at me like she was trying to figure something out. "Oh?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at her. "Do you have a silver stake? Do you even know how to use one?"

Rose scowled and I grinned on the inside. There was absolutely no way that she could know how to use one. She had left before guardians could teach that important piece of information, there was no way anyone would even let her near one. Staking a Strigoi with a silver stake was the easiest way for us to kill them. It took a careful balance of Moroi magic to make them, and were not distributed to just anyone. The senior novices had just barely started working with them.

"Okay. I'll cut his head off," Rose said triumphantly.

"Ignoring the fact that you don't have a weapon to do that, how will you compensate for the fact that he may be a foot taller than you," I told Rose, and I could tell that she was starting to get annoyed with me.

"Fine, then I'll set him on fire," she said angrily.

"Again, with what?"

Rose's irritation grew. "All right, I give up. You've already got the answer. You're just messing with me. I'm at the mall and I see a Strigoi. What do I do?"

Oh, this was definitely going to earn me a good slap across the face. "You run."

Rose glared at me and I thought that she really would come over and hit me. Instead, she finished her stretches and went off to start her laps. This time I offered to go with her. Her times had not been improving and I was curious as to why. I also just wanted an excuse to be with her, not that I would ever share that little piece of information, though.

We set off into the cool October day, the sun getting ready to go down. I wanted to run with Rose, so I slowed down so that I could run alongside her, but that seemed to bother her. She ran faster, pushing herself harder. We had to run three miles, and that equaled about twelve laps around the track.

Once we were almost done, a group of novices passed us on their way to their morning training sessions. "Good form, Rose!" One of them called.

Rose smiled and waved back, slowing down a little bit. I don't why, but that just annoyed me. I didn't want him interrupting my time with her. "You're slowing down," I snapped harshly. " Is this why your times aren't getting any faster. You're easily distracted?"

She sped up, going faster than she had been before. I felt a little guilty about yelling at her, but, hey, whatever got her to run faster, right?

On our way back to the gym I checked my stopwatch and saw that she had improved her time by two minutes. I guess yelling at her had worked.

"Not bad, huh?" Rose asked, pleased with herself, and I couldn't help but agree with her. She was finally starting to improve. She had a right to be proud. "Looks like I could get as far as the Limited before the Strigoi got me at the mall. Not sure how Lissa would do."

"If she was with you, she'd be okay."

Rose looked at me in surprise, but I didn't regret saying that. Sometimes she could appear to be lazy and unwilling to learn, but she actually was eager to protect Moroi and she always seemed to be looking out for Lissa. Rose knew her duty better than a lot of people, and I knew that she would make a great guardian one day.

She looked up at me, smiling, but then her face went blank just like it had that first time weeks ago. But unlike last time, she was back in her own head in seconds. She looked horrified for a second and then she tore off running.

She was running faster than she had outside. Quick and desperate, she ran through the halls. I had no idea what was wrong, but I assumed that it had to do with the princess. By how fast she was running, it must be pretty important.

I ran after her, asking what was wrong, but she just ignored me and kept running, still pushing herself harder and harder. I looked up and saw Lissa running towards us, tears pouring down her face. "What's wrong? What happened?" Rose demanded.

Lissa didn't answer that very important question. Instead, she flung her arms around Rose and started crying harder. Rose gently held her and told her that everything would be okay. I hovered over the two girls, scanning the area for any danger. Nobody was going to hurt them with me around.

After Rose got Lissa calmed down, she led us to her room to show us what the problem was. I entered her room cautiously and saw the source of the trouble. Disgust shot through me as I saw what was lying on Lissa's bed. A red fox was on her pillow, it's throat slit open and blood running everywhere.

I immediately called for help, and a few minutes later a hall matron and Ms. Kirova showed up. They started talking about what had happened, but I was more interested in _why _someone would do this so I watched the girls, hoping they would give something away.

Lissa looked deathly pale, and I started worrying about her health. I hoped that she wasn't going into shock. I expected her to stay as far away from it as she possibly could, but she surprised me by stepping closer, her hand reaching out toward it. Disgust washed through me as I realized that she was going to touch it. I wanted to pull her away, but I was also curious as to what she would do.

Rose pulled Lissa back before she could get any closer and shook her head at her. "It was still alive when I got back," Lissa whispered to Rose. "Barely. Oh God, it was twitching. It must have suffered so much."

"Did you-?" Rose asked warily.

"No. I wanted to. . . .I started to. . . ." Lissa said and I wondered what she could have started to do. I mean, what could she possibly do with a dead fox?

"Then forger about it," Rose said harshly. "It's stupid. Somebody's stupid joke. They'll clean it up. Probably even give you a new room if you want."

Lissa looked a little crazed as she turned to look Rose in the eye. "Rose. . . . do you remember. . . that one time. . . ." Lissa said, looking more and more frightened by the minute. Rose was trying to calm her down, but I could tell that Rose was also really freaked out about this. I couldn't help but think that whatever it was that they were talking about was part of the reason why they left.

"Stop it," Rose said, still trying to comfort the princess. "Forget about it. This isn't the same thing."

"What if someone saw? What if someone knows?. . . ." Lissa trailed off in horror of the very thought.

Rose dug her nails into Lissa's shoulders harder and she flinched. "No. It's not the same. It has nothing to do with that. Do you hear me?" Rose asked and Natalie, Prince Victor's daughter, and I openly stared at them. "It's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay," Rose said, trying to convince Lissa, but it seemed as if she was also trying desperately to convince herself.

Lissa slowly nodded her head. Rose's talk had done nothing. She was just as scared and fragile as she was before.

Kirova ordered someone to clean up the mess, not even paying attention to the conversation that Rose and Lissa had just had. She then glanced around the room and saw Rose standing there. She ordered me to take her away, but Rose argued, saying that she had to stay with Lissa, and I couldn't help but agree. Lissa wasn't stable right now, she needed a friend to stay with her.

The headmistress didn't seem to share my opinion, because she ignored Rose's pleas and told me to take her to her room. I walked silently beside her until we were almost there. "You know something about what happened. Is that what you meant when you told Headmistress Kirova that Lissa was in danger?"

"I don't know anything. It's just some sick joke."

"Do you have any idea who'd do it? Or why?" I asked, trying to get some kind of useful answer from her.

Rose thought about it for a minute, running through a list of possible enemies in her head. She thought for a little longer and then said, "No, no clue."

I stared at Rose, my frustration increasing. All I wanted to do was help the princess. She knew that. Why would she keep important information away from someone who only wanted to help? "Rose, if you know something, tell me. We're on the same side. We both want to protect her. This is serious."

Rose spun around to face me, anger flashing across her face. "Yeah, it _is _serious. It's all serious. And you have me doing laps every day when I should be learning to fight and defend her! If you want to help her, then teach me something! _Teach me how to fight. _I already know how to run away."

I stared at Rose for a minute, a little surprised at her outburst. I hadn't expected her to say anything like that. But I could see that she meant every word she said. She truly wanted to know how to fight and she was willing to listen to all of my instructions. But she wasn't quite ready yet. Soon I would teach her, but not yet. I knew she would be frustrated with me, but it would be for the best.

I chose not to respond to her words, instead I beckoned her forward. "Come on. You're late for practice."

She sighed heavily, but didn't say anything.

All throughout practice, I could tell that Rose was out of it. She was still worried about Lissa and whatever it was that they had been talking about. Whatever it was had both of them pretty scared, and I vowed to myself that I would find out what it was and protect them both at all costs. I wouldn't let anything happen to Rose, and I would do everything in my power to keep her safe.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy!**

The next morning I walked into Kirova's office. She had wanted to meet up and talk about last night's incident. She had wanted to keep it quiet, but it was too late now. Everybody knew and that was all that they were talking about today.

Kirova was pacing around her office when I arrived. "Please take a seat Guardian Belikov."

I quietly sat down and watched her. She looked really stressed out and like she hadn't slept at all. Eventually she stopped pacing and turned to face me. "Do you have any idea why someone would do that to the princess?"

I considered telling Kirova that Rose might know something, but quickly decided against it. Rose wouldn't say a thing and I didn't want her to get into any more trouble than she was already in. Besides, I wanted to gain her trust and ratting her out to Kirova was definitely not a way to earn it. "No. I have no clue."

She sighed heavily. "Me either."

I ran through all of the possibilities in my head for about the hundredth time that day, and still came up blank. None of this made sense and it was incredibly frustrating not being able to figure it out. I glanced over at Kirova and guessed that my thoughts were probably similar to hers.

Ms. Kirova thought for a minute and then looked over at me hesitantly. "I heard these rumors that maybe Rose did it. You're her mentor, do you think she would have done it?"

I stared at her, slightly angry. Rose had obeyed all of Kirova's rules since she had arrived here and hadn't gotten into any trouble. She was really improving, and I could tell that she was trying really hard. Kirova had absolutely no reason to blame Rose and it made me mad that she had automatically jumped to that conclusion.

"No, Ms. Kirova. I do not believe that Rose would do anything like that. I have complete faith in her and I am positive that she would not to that. I have noticed a major difference in her since arriving here, and I believe that she is on her way to becoming an excellent guardian," I explained passionately, trying to show her exactly how much I meant those words. "Besides, I was with her the whole time, she wouldn't have had any time to do anything."

Kirova nodded, eyeing me suspiciously, probably wondering what had made me change my mind about Rose. There was no way that I was going to tell her about my conflicting emotions for Rose, so I quickly asked her a question to distract her.

"Why would Rose want to do something like that anyway? I mean, the princess is Rose's best friend and she would die for her. It doesn't make any sense for Rose to have done this."

"What if they are trying to escape again and they think that this might make us feel that they are a danger and should leave," Kirova said, still determined to push the idea that Rose was guilty.

"Possibly," I admitted. "But that still doesn't make much sense. It isn't really worth it and I don't think Rose would go back out into the real world without being able to protect Lissa. After coming back, I think she finally realized how incompetent she was and I know that she would never put Lissa in danger. If they wanted to leave, I think that Rose would wait until she actually learned how to fight."

Headmistress Kirova sighed in defeat. "Okay, Belikov, you win. But if Rose isn't guilty than who is?"

"I wish I could tell you," I murmured, dejected.

We sat there, staring into space, until the door opened and Christian Ozera walked in. I gazed at him in pity as I remembered all that this young boy had been through. When he was very small his parents had both gone Strigoi by choice, therefore disgracing their entire family. They had tried to take Christian away with them, but his aunt had come just in time to save him. Christian had lived a very hard life and had to face a lot of discrimination. Many people avoided him because they thought he was going to follow his parent's example and go Strigoi at any moment. It was a very sad story and I always felt pity each time I saw him.

"How may I help you Mr. Ozera?" Kirova asked politely, straightening herself out in her seat.

"Ms. Meissner sent me here," Christian explained calmly.

"Why?"

"Because I set Ralf Sarcozy on fire in class," he said matter of factly, not sounding the least bit sorry that he could have seriously injured another student.

The Headmistress gasped in shock and looked as if she was about to have a heart attack. The poor woman had already been through enough, she didn't need this to add to everything else that she already had to deal with. "Why on earth would you do that Mr. Ozera?" She demanded, practically shouting.

"Ralf was giving Rose and Lissa trouble about the fox incident, so I figured that I should step in and help them out."

Wait. Ralf was bothering Rose? I clenched my fists trying to control my anger at the obnoxious boy. Suddenly I was happy about what Christian had done. Ralf had definitely deserved it. I winced as I realized what I was thinking. I was okay with someone endangering a student's life just because they had said something offensive to Rose. I really needed to get some help, because this was getting out of control. I should not be having any of these thoughts.

"Yes, it would have been nice to simply _help _them, but you didn't have to set that poor boy on fire!" Ms. Kirova said, her eyes practically bulging out of her head.

Christian shrugged and decided not to comment on that. I stared at him and noticed that he had a cocky smirk on his face, obviously pleased with what he had done. I had heard from many teachers that he had an attitude, and being with him now I couldn't help but noticed that he acted a lot like Rose. They both had an attitude and a snappy comeback for almost anything.

"I understand that you wanted to help Mr. Ozera, but setting people on fire is not permitted here," she said, exasperated.

"I'm sorry Ms. Kirova. I won't do it again," Christian said and I could tell that he was just trying to please her so that he could escape.

"Do you know if Ralf was seriously hurt?"

"Not a scratch on him," he replied arrogantly while I stared at him. How could he be alright if Christian had engulfed him in flames?

"Wh-what do you mean?" Kirova stammered in confusion, and I could tell that she was trying really hard to keep a grip on her usual control. "If you set him on fire it isn't possible that he is completely unharmed."

"Not unless I used a fire spell that doesn't actually burn," Christian said, his smirk growing bigger as he saw our dumbfounded expressions.

Headmistress Kirova thought for a long time, her brows furrowed together. After a few minutes she sighed in exhaustion and said, "Since there was no permanent damage and you did it because of good intentions, you are only suspended for a week, but if anything like this happens ever again, you will have harsher consequences."

Christian nodded politely and said, "Yes ma'am." He quietly left the room and Kirova put her head in her hands. "You have no idea how difficult my job can be, Guardian Belikov."

I stood up, suddenly wanting to get out of here. "I am truly sorry about that and I can only imagine how hard your job is, and I will try my best to get to the bottom of what happened last night."

She smiled reluctantly at me. "Thank you Guardian Belikov, I truly appreciate all of your hard work. We are very lucky to have you here."

I quickly nodded and then made my way out of her office, wondering how on earth I was going to solve this very frustrating mystery.

I knew that Rose had many of the answers that I needed, but I was pretty sure that she wouldn't tell me anything. I was also sure that the two girls had no idea who had done that, but I think that they had a pretty good idea of _why._

I sighed and went back to my room to contemplate what I would do next. I knew that I had to get that information from Rose in order to keep Lissa safe, but I also knew that I would have to go through hell to get it from her. This was definitely not going to be very fun.

**Author's Note:**

**I hope that you like this chapter! Thank you so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter, I really appreciate them and loved reading all of them. Please don't forget to review on this chapter! I love hearing what you think of my story!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Thank you so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter! I really appreciated them and enjoyed reading them and what you thought of the story. I hope you like this chapter and please don't forget to REVIEW and tell me what you think!**

I walked around the campus, completely bored out of my mind. Patrolling the grounds was definitely not one of the most exciting jobs, and it gave me too much time to think. Tonight I wanted a distraction, I _needed _a distraction. Anything to take my mind off the fox incident and Rose. Lately, those were the only things that were on my mind and it was extremely annoying. I would be watching a classroom and start having thoughts about Rose, or I would be eating lunch or dinner with the other guardians and start hallucinating about dead foxes.

It was all mentally exhausting and I was hoping that this would pass soon. I had been hoping that patrolling would keep my mind off Rose, but it only ended up giving me more free time to think about her.

I passed one of the halls and ran into the janitor. "I'm sorry, sir. I wasn't watching where I was going," I apologized politely, moving to the side so that he could pass.

"I'm glad I found you Guardian Belikov," he said, not bothering at introductions, while I regarded him curiously. Why on earth would the janitor be looking for me? "I just saw Miss Hathaway sneaking off to one of the lounges. I thought since you were her mentor, that you would want to deal with her."

I mentally groaned. What had she done now? I thought she was supposed to be on good behavior. She _knew _that she wasn't allowed to leave her room, so I had absolutely no clue what could ever possess her to break the rules and leave. I nodded at him. "Thank you for telling me, and I can assure you that I _will _deal with her," I said, my lips in a hard line. Could this girl be any more difficult? She already haunted most of my thoughts, I didn't need to go traipsing around campus at night looking for her.

"Thank you Guardian Belikov," the janitor said, quickly scurrying away, probably afraid that I would ask him to join me. Rose had a pretty bad reputation here, and I was sure he had heard the stories and didn't want anything to do with her.

Sighing heavily, I made my way to the lounge in search of Rose. I really hoped she wasn't sneaking out to party or something. She could get in some serious trouble for that. Oh God, I thought, I really hope she isn't getting drunk. Sober Rose was hard enough to deal with, I couldn't even imagine handling a drunk Rose.

As I got closer, I could hear the sound of two people talking. The first voice I easily recognized as Rose, but I couldn't identify the other person. A boy, I realized and my teeth ground together. Who knew what they were doing in there.

"But you _want _to. You like it. All you dhamp girls do," the boy said, and I had to use all of my self control to stay where I was and not march in there and rip that disgusting boy's head off. how dare he accuse Rose of being a blood whore!

"Stop it," Rose said. "I told you , I'm not like that. But if you want something to do with your mouth, I can give you some ideas."

That's it! All of my self control melted away and I slammed the door open, causing Rose and her little "friend" to spring apart. I crossed the room and jerked the little punk up by his shirt.

"What's your name?" I growled at him, causing his eyes to grow as wide as saucers.

"J-Jesse, sir. Jesse Zeklos, sir," he managed to stammer out. He wasn't such a smooth talker now. I was amazed that he was even able to utter out a sentence.

"Mr. Zeklos, do you have permission to be in this part of the dorm," I asked in a frightening voice that I barely recognized as my own. I knew I was being a little too hard, but I couldn't help it. He was here with her, he was _touching _her, and I didn't want anybody doing that except me. Some small part of my brain questioned why I was even saying this, but I promptly ignored it.

"No, sir," the boy answered.

"Do you know the rules about male and female interactions around here?" I asked, knowing full well that he knew this, but I just enjoyed watching him squirm.

"Yes, sir."

"Then I suggest you get out of here as fast as you can before I turn you over to someone who will punish you accordingly. If I ever see you like this again"-I pointed toward Rose, who I hadn't even glanced at yet-"_I _will be the one to punish you. And it will hurt. A lot. Do you understand?" I growled out in a low, menacing voice.

Zeklos's eyes grew wider than they were before, which I hadn't even thought was possible, and he quickly said, "yes, sir!"

"Then _go._" I released him and the little baby ran out of there as fast as his legs would take him. I turned to Rose, fully intending on giving it to her much worse than the Zeklos boy, but then I noticed what she was wearing, or _wasn't _wearing might have been a better word to use.

Oh. My. God. I thought as I stared at her. She was only wearing jeans and a black bra, and I couldn't help but stare. My eyes roamed up and down her body, taking in every detail. She was the most beautiful woman that I had ever met. I wanted her. I wanted her _so _bad, and I wanted her all to myself. I didn't want anybody to ever see her like this again- except me, of course.

"You see something you like?" Rose asked, painfully bringing me back to reality and the unfortunate situation that we were in.

"Get dressed," I ordered, taking my anger and embarrassment out on her. I couldn't believe that I had lost my control. This couldn't be happening to me. She was _seven _years younger than me, and not to mention _my student. _For God's sake, I could not be thinking these things! This girl was going to end up costing me my job and I don't think she even knew it. I pushed away all of my conflicted emotions about her away, replacing them with a fierce glare.

My life never used to be this complicated. I should have just let them kick Rose out of the school. Then I wouldn't be having all of these problems. I knew that she was trouble from the beginning, so I had no idea why I had agreed to mentor her. What had I been thinking? Oh wait, I wasn't! Just like tonight. When it came to Rose, I didn't think, I just acted.

Rose quickly put her shirt back on again, looking up at me nervously. I probably still had a murderous expression on my face, and now all my attention was focused on her, not Zeklos, and I had a lot of anger to get out. She _should _be afraid.

"How'd you find me? You following me to make sure I don't run away?" She asked, her attitude once again coming out.

"Be quiet," I snapped, trying to suppress some of my anger. I bent down so were on eye level. "A janitor saw you and reported it. Do you have any idea how stupid this was?"

"I know, I know, the whole probation thing, right?" She asked, not sounding ashamed of what she had done at all.

"Not just that. I'm talking about the stupidity of getting in _that _kind of situation in the first place," I said, trying to convey the message to her that she would not have a successful future if people found out that she did this kind of stuff all the time.

" I get in _that _kind of situation all the time, Comrade. It's not a big deal," she said, anger rising in her. She didn't like being treated like a child and she wasn't happy that I was, but at this moment I didn't care. I had my own anger to deal with. How could she think that this was no big deal? It was a _very _big deal and she didn't seem to understand that. And where the hell did she come up with that stupid nickname?

"Stop calling me that. You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Sure I do. I had to do a report on Russia and the R.S.S.R. last year."

I ground my teeth together and fought the urge to start yelling and screaming at her. "_U.S.S.R. _And it _is_ a big deal for Moroi to be with a dhampir girl. They like to brag."

"So?"

_"So?" _I asked incredulously. How could she not care if some filthy guy went around talking about what he did with her. Did she have any _respect? _"So you don't have any respect? Think about Lissa. You make yourself look cheap. You live up to what a lot of people already think about dhampir girls, and it reflects back on her. And me."

"Oh, I see. Is that what this is about? Am I hurting your big, bad male pride? Are you afraid I'll ruin your reputation?" She asked and I had to clench my fists to keep myself from slapping some sense into her.

"My reputation is already made, Rose. I set my standards and I lived up to them a long time ago. What you do with yours remains to be seen," I said, my voice hardening. "Now get back to your room-if you can manage it without throwing yourself at someone else."

I hadn't meant to say that last part, but I was so worked up that it just slipped out. Anger flashed across Rose's face and she glared at me. "Is that your subtle way of calling me a slut?"

"I hear the stories you guys tell. I've heard stories about you," I said and it was true. Ever since they go back I had hear wild stories of things that Rose used to do. At first I didn't believe them, but seeing this tonight and hearing what she told me, I was starting to think that those stories were not rumors. It was sad that those were the things people thought about when they thought about Rose. I wanted to help her and make her into a respectable guardian, but I couldn't do that unless she tried.

For a second Rose looked like she was going to start yelling, like I expected her to be. But she surprised me by looking ashamed and shakily saying, "Why is it wrong to. . . .I don't know, have fun? I'm, seventeen, you know. I should be able to enjoy it."

"You're seventeen, and in less than a year, someone's life and death will be in your hands," I said, trying to sound kind, but still firm. I really wanted this to sink into her head. "If you were human or Moroi, you could have fun. You could do things other girls could."

"But you're saying I can't."

I glanced away from her, thinking back to my very first charge and my very good friend. I had to show her what it was like out there. She needed to be focused so that she could protect Lissa. I didn't want anyone to go through what I went through when I lost Ivan, nobody should have to endure that pain, and I would make sure that Rose would never go through that. "When I was seventeen I met Ivan Zeklos. We weren't like you and Lissa, but we became friends, and he requested me as his guardian when I graduated. I was the top student in my school. I paid attention to everything in my classes, but in the end, it wasn't enough. That's how it is in this life. One slip, one distraction . . ." I sighed as I thought back to all of the trust Ivan had in me, but I wasn't able to protect him. I had failed him. "And it's too late."

"Jesse's a Zeklos," Rose said and I turned back to face her.

"I know," I said quietly. Jesse and Ivan actually looked a little bit similar, which only made dealing with what happened tonight that much worse.

"Does it bother you?" Rose continued as I tried to hide the pain I felt after talking about Ivan, but she could somehow see right through my charade. "You hurt. Every day. Don't you? You miss him."

I was surprised. How on earth did Rose ever guess that about me. I always worked so hard to keep my pain and suffering locked up and hidden, but then Rose came along and read me like an open book. It was very frustrating and I couldn't figure out _how _she knew that.

She looked thoughtful and I could tell that she was only figuring out more stuff about me in her head. My surprise vanished and my usual seriousness returned. "It doesn't matter how I feel. _They _come first. Protecting them."

Rose thought for a little while and I was pretty sure Lissa and protecting her was on her mind. "Yeah. They do," she finally said.

We didn't say anything for a while. We just sat there, thinking. I thought back to the other day when Rose yelled at me because I wasn't teaching her how to fight. I also thought back to when I told myself that I would keep Rose focused so that she would never have to lose Lissa. I wanted her to learn to fight and be able not only to protect Lissa, but also herself. In these few weeks that I had known her, I had unconsciously allowed myself to become closer to her than I had ever expected. She understood me in a way that I didn't even understand sometimes and she had somehow figured out some of my deepest secrets. I cared about her and I was confused about our relationship and some of my feelings toward her, but I did know that I wanted her to be safe and I didn't want anything to happen to her. Ever.

"You told me you want to fight, to _really _fight. Is that still true?" I asked, breaking the long silence.

"Yes. Absolutely."

"Rose . . . I can teach you, but I have to believe you're dedicated. Really dedicated. I can't have you distracted by things like this," I said, gesturing around and mentally shuddering as I thought back to what I had seen when I first came in. "Can I trust you?"

Rose looked into my eyes and I could tell that she felt different around me. With anyone else she would have had a bitchy attitude, but with me she was miraculously serious. It surprised me that she acted differently toward me and I wondered why that was."Yes. I promise."

"All right. I'll teach you, but I need you strong. I know you hate the running, but it really is necessary. You have no idea what Strigoi are like. The school tries to prepare you, but until you've seen how strong they are and how fast . . . well, you can't even imagine. So I can't stop the running and conditioning. If you want to learn more about fighting, we need to add more trainings. It'll take up more of your time. You won't have much left for your homework or anything else. You'll be tired. A lot."

Rose thought about what I said for a couple of seconds. "It doesn't matter. If you tell me to do it, I'll do it."

I stared at Rose, looking into her eyes for any sign of weakness, but I couldn't find any. I think that she had finally gotten the message and understood what it took to become a guardian. I nodded at her. "We'll start tomorrow." I just really hoped that what she said was true and she was going to stay true to her word.

**Author's Note:**

**This is one of my favorite chapter's in the book and I hope you really enjoyed reading it in Dimitri's POV. I have been really busy lately so it might take me a little longer to update. I am so sorry about that, but I have just had so much going on lately. Thank you so much for all of your patience and please don't forget to review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Thank you so much to all of the people who reviewed the last chapter! I hope you like this chapter. I'm sorry that it is so short, but Dimitri did not appear in this chapter at all. I hope you like it and please don't forget to review!**

The next day I suspected numerous rumors to be flying around the school about Rose and her escapades with the Zeklos boy last night, but he was surprisingly able to keep his big mouth shut and not say anything. I was guessing that the only reason he wasn't talking and bragging to his friends about what he had done was because he was afraid I would hunt him down if he did. That actually wasn't a bad idea and I would probably do it if I wasn't afraid of getting fired. Threatening royal Moroi was not a smart choice if you wanted to keep your job.

Instead of rumors going around about Rose, there were some about a Moroi girl named Mia Rinaldi. Zeklos had apparently started them and I could only guess where he had gotten the information. It was widely known around the school that Rose and Mia hated each other and I Mia had already done enough to anger Rose. She had finally cracked and done something to get revenge.

I had to admit that I was a little disappointed in Rose. I was hoping that she would try to be above Mia and not resort down to her level. I had caught glances of Mia today and had seen her desperately trying to convince people that it was a lie, but seeing her expression I could tell that it was not and Rose had somehow found out the truth and used it against Mia. Well at least Rose was above starting untruthful rumors. That was something at least.

This morning Rose and I had started her extra trainings, as I had promised. We had just done some conditioning, which Rose had not been thrilled about, but she now understood their importance and agreed without too much complaining. I planned to start teaching her to actually fight in our afternoon session today. I knew that she was excited about it, and if I was being completely honest, I was also looking forward to it.

Rose was going to be one of the greatest guardians and I couldn't wait to start helping her onto that path. She had everything that a guardian needed. Dedication, courage, determination, and many other important qualities. Rose truly understood what her job entailed and she was more serious and dedicated than most adult guardians. That had surprised me at first, but now I was just impressed and very proud that she was my student. Sure, she had made a few mistakes, but at the end of the day she was still a great person.

I looked at the clock and realized that it was about time to go meet Rose for our afternoon training session. I quickly changed into workout clothes and made my way down to the gym to start our first lesson on Friday.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Vampire Academy!**

When I arrived in the gym, Rose wasn't there yet. Surprise, surprise. I got the mats out while I waited and she arrived just after I finished laying them out. I brought her over and positioned her so that she stood facing me.

I crossed my arms. "What's the first problem you'll run into when facing a Strigoi?"

"They're immortal?" She asked uncertainly.

"Think of something more basic."

Rose thought for a little while and then said, "They could be bigger than me. And stronger."

Strigoi were much stronger than Moroi or dhampirs and could easily throw us around if they wanted to, so that was why we guardians had to go through such vigorous training. We needed to be strong enough to fight and kill Strigoi so that we could keep the Moroi safe.

I nodded in approval. "That makes it difficult but not impossible. You can usually use a person's extra height and weight against them."

I started by teaching her several useful maneuvers that would show her when and how to strike someone. I took her through the motions several times and I could tell that she was drinking in every word that I said and also learning from the mistakes that she had previously made. She really did want to be able to protect Lissa at all costs, and I was extremely proud of her.

In the short amount of time that we had, I could already see that Rose was learning quickly and making excellent progress. She absorbed everything that I had taught her and looked like a pro while performing the maneuvers.

Toward the end of our time, I let her try out the new moves that she had learned. "Go ahead," I said. "Try to hit me."

She didn't hesitate, she lunged, ready to strike, but I was faster than her and quickly knocked her down. She stayed on the mat for about half a second before springing back up and coming at me again, only to be knocked back down.

After a few more failed attempts, she finally gave up. "Okay, what am I doing wrong?" She asked and I couldn't help but smile.

"Nothing."

She raised her eyebrows incredulously. "If I wasn't doing anything wrong, I'd have rendered you unconscious by now."

I almost laughed out loud. Rendered me unconscious, huh? Even if she had been able to master these moves, she still wouldn't be able to render me unconscious. "Unlikely. Your moves are all correct, but this is the first time you've really tried. I've done it for years."

Rose shook her head and rolled her eyes at me, obviously mad that I was acting like a bossy adult who treated all kids like they knew nothing. I couldn't blame her though. After seeing how Stan treated her, I would be mad at anyone who started acting like that towards me. "Whatever you say, Grandpa. Can we try it again?"

I ignored the grandpa comment and answered her question. "We're out of time. Don't you want to get ready?" I asked as I remembered that there was a special assembly which the queen would be attending. I knew Rose could care less about the queen, she had often called her 'queen bitch' whenever the assembly was brought up between us. She was at least smart enough to know that she shouldn't go around telling people about her nickname for the queen. Rose, I knew, was only using this event as an excuse to socialize with other people. She was getting really tired of her room, and I knew that because she complained about that on a daily basis. I had learned a lot of things about Rose through her complaining. Her newest thing was that her lip gloss was running out.

Sometimes it annoyed me to no end, but sometimes it was interesting and I loved to get a chance to learn more about her.

Rose glanced at the clock and a large smile spread across her face. "Hell, yeah, I do."

I started walking away, expecting Rose to start following me, but instead she stayed completely still for awhile until I heard her rushing at me, making a weird kind of battle cry.

I smiled to myself quickly before focusing on Rose. I spun around as fast as I could, grabbing her, throwing her to the ground, and then pinning her there so she wouldn't be able to get up and try again.

Rose groaned, whether in pain or frustration, I couldn't tell, but was pretty sure she was more frustrated with herself. "I didn't do anything wrong!" Yup, definitely frustration.

Still holding her wrists down, I looked into her eyes, allowing myself to show the amusement I felt toward what had just happened. "The battle cry sort of gave you away. Try not to yell next time.

She scowled. "Would it have really made a difference if I 'd been quiet?"

I almost laughed. Probably not. I had heard her running before I heard the battle cry. "No. Probably not," I said and the scowl returned to her face. I felt like we had switched places today, usually I was the scowling, all business one and Rose was the amused, always joking around and laid back one. It felt kind of weird to me, but I was still enjoying this.

Rose sighed loudly, but I could tell that she wasn't all that mad about what happened. She was starting to see the amusement in this too.

Suddenly, the amusing, light and joking atmosphere disappeared and was replaced by something more serious as I realized that my hands were still on her wrists, holding her down, and my face was only a few inches from hers. I was pressed up right against her and my breathing became heavier, as did Rose's as she too realized the position that we were in.

Ever since that night in the lounge, I couldn't help but think about Rose. I would start thinking about her when all I wanted was to have a few free moments. A few _Rose free _moments. Worst of all, that image of her in her bra kept popping up in my head when I least expected it. I tried not imagining Rose that way, but I couldn't help it.

I didn't just think about her because she looked good in a bra, but also because of how dedicated and focused she was. She wanted nothing more to protect Lissa, and I could see it in her eyes that if Lissa was _ever _in any danger, she would be the first one there and she would willingly die to protect her best friend at all costs. She understood a guardian's job better than anyone else I knew, and I couldn't help but admire her for that.

Each day that passed by, after each training session with her, I found myself growing closer to her than I had ever imagined myself doing. We often shared witty quips with each other, and sometimes I even smiled at her. A real, _genuine _smile that I had not given to anyone in a while. I felt good when I was around her. She made me feel happy and whole, and sometimes I felt myself wanting to be near her, but then I would remember how wrong that was and that it couldn't happen.

Once the princess graduated, Rose and I would be her guardians and would have to protect her at all costs. I couldn't let my feelings for Rose get in the way of that. No matter how much I wanted to ignore all of the rules that us guardians had to follow, I knew I couldn't. I couldn't put the princess in danger and Rose wouldn't want that either.

Rose hesitated and then said, "So um . . . you got any other moves to show me." That was probably the most inappropriate thing she could have said, but I couldn't keep my lips from twitching a little bit.

I fought as hard as I could to stop myself from smiling at her, and after a while I finally managed to regain my usual stoic manner. I got off of her and stood up. "Come on. We should go."

She stood up and started following me out of the gym, but I didn't turn back, no matter how much I wanted to. I knew that Rose would make a great guardian one day, and I didn't want to get in the way of that. She had made so much progress and I was very proud of her. I saw the disappointment in her eyes when she had been unable to beat me today, but I knew that one day her skills would surpass mine and I would be the one with the disappointed looks.

I knew that I liked Rose Hathaway, but I couldn't get in the way of her future. I wouldn't. This was definitely not something that I needed in my life right now, but I would try to deal with it as best I could.

I entered the commons and was surprised with what I saw. It was the complete opposite of what it was this afternoon. They really had gone all out for the queen. Instead of looking like a busy lunchroom, it looked like a beautiful dining hall that royals would even approve of. Blood red tablecloths were on the tables with vases on top full of red roses and white lilies.

There were still a few last minute preparations to be made and I saw a few Moroi women scrambling around making final adjustments before the queen arrived. As I took my place on the wall, Alberta rolled her eyes toward the Moroi women and smiled at me. I laughed quietly and looked straight ahead, searching for any threats.

Rose walked in, wearing a nice sweater, but judging by her expression, that wouldn't have been the word she would have used. She waved and smiled at Lissa and then quickly took her seat in the back. Seating had been assigned and I don't think that Rose was too happy about that, but she didn't say anything, or at least, not yet.

The ceremony finally started and everyone rose respectfully as some of the royals came down the aisle and taking their places toward the front of the room. Once the royals had passed, four guardians dressed in red and black appeared and everyone got down on their knees, except for us guardians who had to stay on guard, searching for any possible threats, even though I was sure that we wouldn't be getting any Strigoi visits tonight. I could tell that a lot of the students thought that that was ridiculous, mostly the novices, but they did it anyway.

Queen Tatiana appeared, looking and acting exactly how a monarch should. She held herself up gracefully and managed to look kind and stern at the same time. She regally made her way down the aisle with four more guardians following her. She smiled and nodded at a few novices, but stopped and actually spoke to a few of the Moroi. None of it was really interesting, until she spoke another name.

"Vasilisa Dragomir."

I turned to watch Rose just in time to see her head snap up faster than I thought possible. She pushed her way through the crowd until she was able to clearly see what was going on.

"We heard you had returned. We are glad to have the Dragomirs back, even though only one remains. We deeply regret the loss of your parents and your brother; they were among the finest of the Moroi, their deaths a true tragedy."

My eyes never left Rose as the queen continued talking. Rose relaxed slightly but was still on edge. "You have an interesting name," the queen continued. "Many heroines in Russian fairytales are named Vasilisa. Vasilisa the Brave, Vasilisa the Beautiful. They are different young women, all having the same name and the same excellent qualities: strength, intelligence, discipline, and virtue. All accomplish great things, triumphing over their adversaries.

"Likewise, The Dragomir name commands its own respect. Dragomir kings and queens have ruled wisely and justly in our history. They have used their powers for miraculous ends. They have slain Strigoi, fighting right alongside their guardians. They are _royal _for a reason."

I saw Rose relax a little bit more, now sure that the queen wasn't going to do anything to hurt Lissa. "Yes," Tatiana continued, "you are doubly named with power. Your names represent the finest qualities people have to offer and hearken back in time to deeds of greatness and valor." Tatiana paused for a moment and I sensed that this was going in a dangerous direction. "But, as you have demonstrated, names do _not _make a person. Nor do they have any bearing on how that person turns out."

With that said, Tatiana turned and continued walking as if she has not just insulted the princess right to her face and in front of everyone else. In that moment, I didn't care if she was the queen. Lissa was _my charge, _and I did not want anything to upset her. Or Rose. Rose was right, she was a bitch.

I glanced over at Rose and saw that she had recovered from her shock, unlike everyone else who was gaping at either Lissa or Tatiana, and was now glaring at the queen with a murderous expression. I was sure that if there weren't guardians surrounding the place that Rose would have tackled the queen right then and there. I watched as she clenched her fists angrily and slowly made her way back to her seat.

I was proud of her, she showed a lot of restraint. I knew how hard it was for her to do that, and I was glad that she had been able to control herself, though I wasn't sure if she had entirely ruled out tackling the queen yet. So I watched her throughout dinner to make sure that she didn't try anything, but all she did was anxiously glance at Lissa about every five seconds.

Once dinner ended, Rose made a beeline toward the door, hurrying after Lissa, who had already beaten her out. I had been given orders that I should immediately escort Rose back to her dorm, but I figured that her and Lissa needed some alone time.

After a few minutes Alberta approached me. "Is Hathaway back in her dorm yet?"

I shook my head. "Not yet. I figured that I should give her some alone time with the princess after what happened."

Alberta nodded reluctantly, wanting to obey orders, but also wanting to help Lissa. "That's probably smart. Rose will know what to say, especially with that bond of theirs." Alberta paused for a moment, thinking and then continued. "Have you found out anything about the fox incident from Rose?"

I sighed. "No. She hasn't mentioned anything, and if I asked I'm sure she wouldn't tell me anything. She trusts me much more than before, but nothing I can say will ever get her to give up Lissa's secrets."

"That's what I thought," Alberta said in exasperation, but then a slight smile appeared on her face. "She'll make a great guardian one day."

I smiled back. "I've noticed. She always puts Lissa first. She understands a guardians job better than anyone I know."

Alberta was grinning now as something outside caught her eye. "Maybe she does, but she's still the same Rose who can attract trouble like a magnet," she said, gesturing out the window toward Rose who was facing off with a small Moroi girl.

Shaking my head in irritation, I walked off, muttering. "I'll take care of it," to Alberta who was laughing at me. She wouldn't be laughing if she was Rose's mentor and had to deal with all of this, but I supposed this was better than what had happened with the Zeklos boy the other night.

I shook my head to clear it as an image of Rose from that night popped into my head. Again. I walked outside and noticed that there was a small crowd gathered around and Rose was leaning toward one of the girls with a murderous expression on her face. The Moroi girl was trying to mask her fear, but it was obvious to everyone that she was afraid to find out what Rose had in mind for her.

I made my way over and stood beside Rose. "Everything all right?" I asked even though it evidently wasn't.

"Sure thing, Guardian Belikov," Rose said, smiling, even though she was trying hard to contain her fury. "We were just swapping family stories. Ever hear Mia's? It's _fascinating."_

I mentally groaned. I had been right. Rose was the one to start this rumor about Mia, and from the look on Mia's face she had also found that out tonight. "Come on," she said to her friends who immediately followed after her, but not without giving Rose one last malicious look that clearly said that she was out for revenge, but Rose just brushed it off.

"I'm supposed to take you back to your dorm," I said. "You weren't about to just start a fight, were you?" I asked, even though it was obvious she would have liked to start one.

"Of course not," Rose stated, still keeping her eyes trained on the door that Mia had just went through. "I don't start fights where people can see them."

Lissa groaned. "Rose." Funny, that was exactly what I felt like doing.

"Let's go. Good night, Princess."

I turned around, expecting Rose to follow me, but she didn't. "You going to be okay, Liss?"

"I'm fine," she replied, but I didn't need the bond that Rose had to see that she was lying. What the queen had said made her feel horrible, and the situation with Mia certainly had not helped.

"Liss . . ." Rose said, seeing the lie too.

"I told you, I'm fine. You've got to go."

Rose hesitated for a second longer before following me out of the garden that we had been in. "We may need to add an extra training on self-control."

"I have plenty of self contr-hey!" She broke off her comment and stopped walking. She glared at a Moroi boy. Christian Ozera. I just hoped that I wasn't going to have to break up another fight tonight.

"You going to see Lissa?" She demanded, still angry from what had happened earlier with the queen and Mia.

Christian looked at Rose, indifferent, which only made her anger flare up. "What if I am?"

"Rose, this isn't the time," I said, sensing another fight coming on. They clearly didn't like each other.

She ignored me and continued talking to Christian. "Why don't you just leave her alone? Are you so messed up and desperate for attention that you can't tell when someone doesn't like you? You're some crazy stalker, and she knows it. She's told me all about your weird obsession- how you're always hanging out in the attic together, how you set Ralf on fire to impress her. She thinks you're a freak, but she's too nice to say anything." I had been joking about the self-control lessons, but it looked like she really could use them after all.

Christian scowled, trying to hide the hurt he felt and I felt sorry for him. "But _you _aren't too nice?"

"No. Not when I feel sorry for someone."

Okay, this was enough. "Enough," I said grabbing Rose and steering her away.

"Thanks for 'helping', then," Christian snapped with sarcasm.

"No problem," Rose called as I dragged her away.

She glanced back and so did I just in time to see Christian slump away and for Rose to smile in satisfaction.

Alberta had been right. Rose was going to make a great guardian one day, and she understood a lot, but right now, in this moment, I realized that she still had a lot to learn.


End file.
